4 View gallery <\/p>\n
![\"\u05e0\u05d5\u05e2\u05dd](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/HkgCFPbb1Gx_3_0_1200_675_0_x-large.jpg\" "\\"Noam")
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Noam Bettan in the Eurovision semi-final<\/p>\n
(Photo: Screenshot EBU)<\/p>\n
\u201cI heard the boos at the beginning,\u201d Bettan told the delegation. \u201cThey were really, really loud. But I focused on the performance.\u201d After leaving the stage, he added, \u201cI searched with my eyes for Israeli flags in the audience. It strengthened me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Israeli delegation chief Yoav Tzafir gave his first response to Bettan\u2019s performance, telling ynet: \u201cThe reactions were excellent, it was a perfect performance. We are proud of Noam, the country\u2019s diamond. Noam didn\u2019t let the boos get to him. He is a true professional.\u201d<\/p>\n
Noam Bettan in the first semi-final<\/p>\n
(Video: Courtesy of Kan, the Israel Broadcasting Corporation and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU))<\/p>\n
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Israelis also watched the broadcast at the Eurovision Village in central Vienna. \u201cPeople from other countries were singing the words by heart,” one Israeli fan said. “Everyone around us sang with us. There was great support, not one boo. Everyone sang \u2018Michelle.\u2019 It was amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n
The performance came after a tense and dramatic 24 hours for the Israeli delegation. During Monday night\u2019s jury rehearsal \u2014 which determines half of the final score \u2014 Israeli dancer Lihi Freud was injured after an Austrian production cameraman <\/a>accidentally struck her in the head with his camera. The Israeli delegation also complained about a staging malfunction during the performance and passed its concerns to the production team.<\/p>\n 4 View gallery <\/p>\n Noam Bettan in the Eutovision semi-final<\/p>\n (Photo: Screenshot EBU)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 4 View gallery <\/p>\n (Photo: Tobias Schwarz \/ AFP)<\/p>\n This year\u2019s Eurovision is being held in Austria after Austrian singer JJ won the 2025 contest with \u201cWasted Love.\u201d Israel, represented last year by Yuval Raphael<\/a> and \u201cNew Day Will Rise,\u201d finished in second place.<\/p>\n 4 View gallery <\/p>\n Israeli and Palestinian flags wave during Noam Bettan’s performance<\/p>\n (Photo: Yuval Chen )<\/p>\n Against that backdrop, Vienna police imposed heavy security measures around the event following reports of planned pro-Palestinian demonstrations. Authorities banned protests near the arena and prohibited signs or materials deemed to violate Eurovision\u2019s \u201cnonpolitical\u201d character inside the venue. Austrian police also assigned two elite units to secure the Israeli delegation.<\/p>\n Earlier Tuesday, during the final rehearsal before the live semifinal, Palestinian flags were seen waving in the crowd for the first time while Bettan was performing onstage.<\/p>\n First published: 23:07, 05.12.26 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Israel\u2019s Noam Bettan, who lit up the first semifinal of Eurovision 2026 in Vienna on Tuesday night with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":481511,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[265],"tags":[18,117,19,17,128],"class_list":{"0":"post-481510","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-tv"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116563761107032647","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=481510"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481510\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/481511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=481510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=481510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=481510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\u05e0\u05d5\u05e2\u05dd](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/ryCFPb11yGl_25_0_1256_706_0_x-large.jpg\" "\\"Noam")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\u05e0\u05d5\u05e2\u05dd](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/BJbyjezbJzl_0_284_3000_1688_0_x-large.jpg\" "\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\u05e9\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/ryluUQzZyMg_0_0_3000_1688_0_x-large.jpg\" "\\"Israeli")
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